Hello! My name is Jenny and I'm a sophomore at Dartmouth. Besides blogging, I work as a communications intern for the admissions office! I also do research at Geisel School of Medicine, and I am a mentor for the Great Issues Scholars LLC, centered around security, global health, and environment. Some of my favorite ways to relax include running around Occom Pond, stargazing, and spending quality time with some of the amazing people I have met here.
I looked forward to this class every week, partly because of the professor and partly due to the content. We read books on a wide variety of topics, ranging from privilege and how it affects our interactions with others to restaurant kitchens and the hierarchies inherent in surgical residencies.
Biol13 is structured so that you have to work as a group on difficult class problems and even on some exams, which was novel to me and pushed me to really understand the material. This class inspired me to pursue research (both off-campus and on-campus) related to genetics.
Although this class was daunting to me in the beginning, given that I had little to no experience in either Women's, Gender, and Sexuality or Art History, it was also one of the classes in which I became the most engaged in. For our final project, I investigated the history of allegories in Western art and why they were so often portrayed as women.
SummerOff Campus
I interned at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA under Dr. Livingston. I explored the mechanism by which BRCA1 acts as a tumor suppressor. It was really rewarding to be able to apply what I had learned in Biol13, including specific procedures and techniques we had been tested on, to a real-life laboratory setting.
This class is notorious for its difficulty, and I would not call it an easy class. Nonetheless, it was my favorite class because I loved Professor Jacobi, who has taught at Dartmouth for 22 years, and I appreciated learning mechanisms behind why certain reactions happen. Instead of rote memorization, this class relied on being able to predict the products of a reaction, a skill picked up from lots of practice.
Although this was an introductory class, Professor Craig made it more dynamic and interactive, with several visits to the Hood Museum of Art, ethnography labs, and weekly discussion posts. I learned about everything from the Gebusi culture and their rites of passage to the opioid epidemic. For my final paper, I conducted an ethnography studying the social dynamics that take place in Baker Lobby and how that relates to the exchange of capital.
“Hey! Do you want to grab dinner at Foco tonight?”
Chances are, you have no clue what that means. I was in that same boat when I originally got to Dartmouth. One of the things that you gather as a freshman is that Dartmouth students really do have their own language. From studying in “blobby” to “flitzing” that cute person in your class, there seems to be a made-up word for everything.
Yogurt, fruit, and granola is a combination that never goes wrong.
But back to Foco. Foco is the buffet-like dining hall on-campus, officially known as the Class of ’53 Commons. I actually got in an argument with a friend last week because I believed it was nicknamed “Foco” for “food court” but she thought it was for “Fifty-Three Commons.” We never figured it out, but maybe by the time we graduate, we will have cracked that mystery.
All freshmen are on the 20 meal plan during their freshman fall, which essentially means that they have 20 meal swipes to use per week. A meal swipe can get you into Foco or be used for its equivalent value at other dining halls. After that first term, a lot of students change to other meal plans that give more “DBA” or dining dollars, and fewer meal swipes. For example, I am currently on a meal plan that gives me five meal swipes per term, but a much more significant amount of dining dollars, which allows more flexibility in terms of where I can eat.
Foco toast means you choose from at least twenty spreads, toppings, and ways to satisfy your craving.
But although I disliked Foco by the end of my first term, it was probably because I was just sick of it since I went so much. Now, I love the selection it provides. Whether you’re in the mood for an omelet full of fresh vegetables, toast with almond butter and chia seeds (my favorite), or pretty much any other food even tangentially related to breakfast, Foco will have it. And that’s simply for breakfast! For lunch and dinner, they have a station for vegetarians that is always my go-to for sweet potatoes and vegetables. The grill has chicken and fish, and we can’t ignore the soft-serve machines and infamous Foco cookies.
But beyond being a dining hall, Foco also puts on a few unique nights each term, centered around a theme. This winter, they had a “One” event that brought Hanover restaurants in, each of whom served one signature dish. This was a way for local restaurants to endorse their businesses to students on campus. Last week, they held “An Evening in Italy,” complete with live music, cheese plates, gelato, and so much more food. There was even a Photo Booth (talk about when in Rome…)! Although during these special Foco dinners, the place is usually crowded with students, the lines are usually worth the wait.
Now that you know a little more about the dining halls at Dartmouth, the next time you visit, you can ask the nearest student to point you to Foco. Don’t forget to grab a cookie!
Woodworking? How does such a skill play in the academic environment? Well, you'll be surprised by how much a craft can complement your academic experience! Come read!
Taught by two professors, “What’s in Your Shoebox” encourages students who studied abroad, like me, to take the time to unpack the lessons and experiences we had while away from campus.
I used to attend a lot of Model UN conferences in high school. I was in love with the intense debates. I was thrilled at the new knowledge I was able to learn. And above all, I felt grateful for the friendships I made during each conference.
Yogurt, fruit, and granola is a combination that never goes wrong.
Foco toast means you choose from at least twenty spreads, toppings, and ways to satisfy your craving.
